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Chiriboga Blue: My New Favorite Cheese

by Kerry Acker

on 02/21/13 at 11:00 AM

I recently attended a whiskey-and-cheese-tasting class offered by the good folks at Murray's, during which we sampled six different pairings of cheese and whiskey. Though I found the class--and most of the pairings--fascinating, I have been positively obsessed with one of the cheeses that I discovered there: Chiriboga Blue.

Made by Ecuadorian cheesemaker Arturo Chiriboga at the Obere Muhle co-op dairy in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps (the story goes that Chiriboga fell in love with a German woman and stayed on to make cheese--seriously, how much more romantic can you get?), Chiriboga is unlike any blue cheese I've ever tasted. Made from raw cow's milk, it's only slightly veiny and barely gamy, and tastes exactly like it looks: almost unbelievably creamy, slightly sweet, and downright buttery. It's quite mild and easy, but there's just enough pungency to keep things interesting. I bought a hunk of it immediately after class and have been eating it almost every night since. I had it with some acacia honey one night, another night with a glass of Alsatian white wine, and I'm happy to report that I enjoyed (okay, devoured) it last night with a single-malt from the Highlands.